That's It
by Hammers and Strings
Summary: A series of standalone fics on how things could have gone differently in favorite JavaJunkie episodes. Total and complete JJ.Chapter Three: Nag Hammandi Redux.
1. The Bracebridge Dinner

A/N: ok, this is my first fic ever, so I wish for reviews, but try to be nice! This fic is basically what every javajunkie fan wishes would have happened in some classic episodes. Each chapter is a new story, they don't relate to each other at all. Thanks for reading!

Chapter One- The Bracebridge Dinner

Luke Danes was never one for the small talk. But here, in a horse-drawn sleigh on a snowy evening, he felt like it was called for. Something, anything to take his mind off of exactly who was in the seat beside him, exactly whose scent he could smell, exactly who was so close that he could almost imagine a world in which he would lean over and…

"I gotta say, sleigh ride's a little much, but these horses are really beautiful." _Good, he thought, words are always good. As the master of the monosyllable, I should be proud of myself. _

"Yes, especially from this angle."

"Not just from this angle." _Well, she called me on it. She always does._

"Oh seriously, don't backtrack. Horse has got a nice butt there."

_Aw, jeez. _"It's not what I'm saying."

"Nice firm hiney."

" Stop talking about the horse's hiney." _In her words: please let something big fall on my head right now._

"God, the town looks beautiful."

Then something happened inside Luke Danes. He didn't know what it was, what caused it. Maybe it was relief at not having to focus on the horses butt that loomed ominously in front of him. Maybe he had a sip too many during cocktail hour. Maybe Lorelai was right, maybe the snow was magical. Whatever it was, it chose that moment to seize control of his mouth, brain, conciense and anything else that it could, and made him say two words that in a normal day, at a normal time, would never _ever_ come out of his mouth.

"_You're _beautiful"

It was like Sesame Street, it was like you could see those words dangling there in the air, and as much as Luke wanted to grab them and throw the back to wherever the hell they came from, both Luke and Lorelai knew that they weren't going anywhere.

Her eyes got as wide as a little kid's when they step into Willy Wonka's factory. Her mouth just hung open for a while, then finally she spoke.

"What did you say?"

"I said..." _side-step you imbecile, avoid it, change the subject, do SOMETHING! _"I said that you're beautiful" _way to go, nice side-stepping you frickin idiot. Just pack you bags now and go home. Oh no, wait you can't cause you're on a moving horse drawn sleigh…you're not going anywhere._

But as Luke mouth and brain were pounding the hell out of each other, Lorelai had pulled herself together enough to muster a phrase. Well a word, actually. Just one word.

"Why?"

Luke wasn't quite sure how to answer this, he needed a little more time to ponder why in fact he had said it. So he did the patented Luke Danes response. Another question.

"Why what?"

"Why did you say that I was beautiful?"

"Well…" _Ok now here, you may be able to save yourself. Just don't freak her out. You were just trying to compliment her. _"…because you are. Lorelai, you're the most beautiful woman I know." _We interrupt this sleigh-ride to report the Luke Danes is grade-A certified idiot. Just off the horse ass-hole, cause you've done it now. That's it for you._

If it was possible, Lorelai's jaw dropped even further down. As her eyes grew even wider, they met Luke's. And all of a sudden, she couldn't move. Because she was looking at something in those eyes. Some thing that she knew, something she had never said, something she had never so intensely until tonight. And in patented Gilmore fashion, it scared the hell out of her.

Oh, and apparently Luke's earlier internal reveling about not being able to escape from a sleigh-ride was wrong. Because as soon as she was able to tear her eyes away from those of the formerly familiar diner owner, she had jumped out of the carriage and was running back in the direction of the inn. _In pumps, _no less. Luke wasted no time following her.

"Lorelai, wait!" _Now you've done it…_

"No!" she cried, still running for her life. "I just…I forgot something back at the inn! I have to go get it!"

But Butch Danes wasn't a gold-medal track star in high school for nothing. Plus well, he _wasn't_ wearing the "shoes-that-seemed-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time." He caught up to her in no time, and grabbed her by the arm, whirling her around.

"Lorelai, don't do this!"

Gilmore aversion tactic number one: Play dumb.

"Do what?"

"Don't run away! I'm sorry alright, that was totally uncalled for, and I shouldn't have said it."

Gilmore aversion tactic number two: Get mad. Yell if necessary.

"Damn right you shouldn't have!" she screamed at him, throwing his hand off of her arm. "What the hell were you thinking?"

Now Luke was confused. Why was she yelling? People love to hear that they're beautiful! Right?

Danes confusion tactic number one: Get mad. Yell if necessary.

So he yelled.

"How can you possibly be mad at me? I just told you…"

And she yelled.

"I know what you told me, Luke! What I'm wracking my brain for is why the hell you think you have the right to just…"

And he yelled some more.

"The right? I don't have the right to tell you what's on my mind tonight? Dammit, I don't have the right to say what's been on my mind for years? You're not a goddamn cop Lorelai, please don't lecture me about my rights!" he added a big flourish at the end, which progressed to throwing a hand over hi mouth in shock at what exactly he had just revealed to her.

And all of a sudden, it got very quiet. And uncomfortable. And uncomfortably quiet.

Until she finally spoke.

"For years? You've…for years?"

And he broke.

"Don't tell me you haven't noticed."

"Luke, everyone's said things at one time or another but I never…I just thought" She had no idea what to say…

And he broke some more.

"You just thought what? That 'oh there's no way, and even if there is who cares? He's just my coffee boy?' Is that it?"

Tears started to form in her eyes. The effect that this man's words had on her…

"You know that's not it! Stop being so goddamn self-deprecating!"

Now he was back to angry.

"Then what is it, Lorelai?" he roared.

And she knew there was only one thing left that she could do. So she kissed him. Just a simple kiss on the lips to show him what she didn't have the nerve to put into words. But as she pulled away, that 'thing' in his eyes held her there. Held her there long enough for him to get a grip. Literally. He grabbed her face and kissed with eight years worth of …whatever it was. She almost fell over because, well, when your knees turn to jello, there's not much supporting your body weight. Lucky for her, he chose that moment to move his hands to around her waist and managed to support her.

_He was always catching her…_

And as the need for oxygen slowly separated them, she looked deep in his eyes and told him just what was on her mind. Except she translated herself, switching from the verbiose Gllmore language to that of _her_ monosyllabic diner man.

"That's it."


	2. Haunted Leg

A/N: Chapter two, after what, a year? Another one shot- this is a series of unlinked one shots that are just pretty java junkie moments that I imagined could be prettier. I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 2- Haunted Leg

Loralei trudged into Luke's at about noon. Yes, trudged was the best way to put it. She was _not_ looking forward to this lunch with her mother, nothing good could come of this. Yet she had agreed, for reasons that even she didn't know, to meet "Emily" for lunch. At Luke's. Luke's, of all places, it had to be Luke's. She didn't know why this fact bothered her so much, but it definitely did. Maybe it was the fact that the two of them were just getting back on good terms, and she was sure that Emily would have nothing nice to say about Luke or his establishment and that would just put Luke in a bad mood.

"_And we all know that if Luke ain't happy, ain't nobody happy,"_ Loralei inwardly cursed her fortune.

Maybe it was that. Maybe it was that fact that it was _her mother._ Or maybe…maybe it was because of this feeling she'd been having. Somehow, the combination of her reconciling with Luke and her "loss" of Christopher due much in part to his…_being Christopher _had brought on this gnawing in the pit of her stomach whenever she set foot in the diner. Maybe it was because he was a man and her luck with men had not been the greatest in the past year or so.

Or maybe it had always been there and was just that much stronger now that they were friends again.

Loralei quickly pushed all man thought out of her head as she took her place at the table and braced herself for the lunch to come, and whatever it was Emily had in store for her.

(Time passes, spoons fly)

Things were going well. Awkward, but well. That is, until the a-bomb was dropped:

"I talked to Christopher." Emily stated as if it was a natural as a DAR function

"What?" Loralei recoiled. Whatever she thought her mother had thought so urgent that she wanted to have lunch with her in her town, it wasn't that.

"I called him last week, we talked for a very long time, and I have to tell you, he is not in love with that woman."

Loralei sat there, in front of her mother and her pretentious Cobb salad, still reeling from the burn of betrayal and the left over sting of heartache, barely stammering out her end of a very terse conversation.

She sat processing and talking at the same time, all the while thinking what all this meant. Chris wanted to be with them, or at least that's what he had told Emily when she called. Chris didn't want to be with them really, she reasoned. He just had decided he wanted to settle down, and had thought "Hey there's a pre-made family with the father slot open, sounds good." And then Sherry's strip had turned pink and he had run. He didn't really want to be with them, he just wanted a family. And the chance to experience one from the beginning, well that was just too good to pass up.

What the two Gilmore women did not realize was that someone else was listening in on their conversation that day in the diner. And it wasn't one of the usual eavesdroppers. Mr. Backwards Baseball Cap himself was learning a lot from the dispute currently taking place between Loralei and her coddled egg of a mother. She was with Chris when they were fighting? Chris's ex got pregnant? And he left all that behind _a second time? _Luke was incredulous. In the brief contact he had had with Chris, he didn't take him for an idiot. Anyone who could make half of a kid like Rory had to have some kind of brains in his head.

"_But actions speak louder than words," _Luke thought. This punk was the biggest idiot he had ever heard of. And as he watched the argument between the Gilmores heat up, he couldn't help but feel sorry for Loralei. Sure, he was jealous that she had been with Chris, but they had both screwed up. He kicked himself for never making a move. He was scared and hadn't, so she did. She "made a move." Only not with him. And she got hurt. And that killed him even more than seeing her with someone else.

"_And now her mother has to come back and rub her face in it," _Luke inwardly cursed Emily and Chris and …anyone that would hurt Loralei and Rory that way they had. He had had enough of them being stomped on.

And finally, so had Loralei. She finally broke, and raised her voice, making a move to leave.

"Do not get involved in this, I mean it. Butt out! Don't call Christopher and talk about me or us, just stay out of it!"

Emily seemed to be in disbelief that anyone would do something as disrespectful as walk out on a luncheon with her.

"Where are you going?"

Luke secretly smirked at Loralei standing up for herself. _For the millionth time, _he thought.

" I have to get back to the inn."

" Do not walk out on me."

" Mom, I am not gonna discuss this with you now or ever. I would love for you to respect that but I know you, so give Christopher my love. "

"A family life doesn't just happen, Lorelai. You have to work for it. You have to fight for it. Lorelai, come back here!"

Emily didn't make a move to run after Loralei after she left. _Mistake number ten thousand, _thought Luke. She moved to get her wallet and pay the bill but Luke walked up and stopped her.

"First time's on the house, Mrs. Gilmore," he said, pretending he hadn't just heard auditory proof of what kind of a person she really was.

"Well thank you, very much, Luke," Emily pasted on a sickening smile of gratitude. "It was a very nice lunch."

_God, she is a spectacular bull-shitter, isn't she? _Luke was in disbelief of this woman's ability to plaster on an expression and seem believable.

"Yes it seemed to be," Luke dished it back. He wanted to get her out of there, he had work to do, but something she said kept grating at him. _You have to work for it. You have to fight for it. _And suddenly, in what would have been a moment of clarity, if Luke believed in that sort of thing, he knew what he had to do. _I need to be there._ That's where he had always been before. There. For her. Regardless of feelings, if she needed him, he was there. She needed someone now, possibly more than ever. He made the mistake of not being there after the accident, he was too wrapped up in his own stuff. He felt how it was without her in his life at all. And he had no desire to ever feel that way again. So what was stopping him?

With resolution, he threw down the towel he was wiping down a nearby table with and yelled to Caesar that he'd be back in ten minutes. Emily was just getting up to leave, but he beat her to the door. She looked at him in confusion and he gave her one good parting shot.

"Stop hurting her."

And with that he was off, leaving Emily wide-eyed and incredulous in his tracks. He walked to the Independence Inn, blew past Michel, and headed to where she was sure to be, the kitchen. Sookie wasn't back yet, but there was sure to be coffee. And in times like these, she thought that was all she needed. Through the swinging doors he passed, a knight in shining flannel. He worked his way past the lunch staff to the coffee maker, where he saw her, fumbling with the pot (empty, he noticed) and the buttons on the machine, close to tears. He walked up behind her.

"Need some help?" A question that could encompass a whole myriad of things.

She whirled around in just a position to look him square in the eye. "Luke?' she gasped, not really a question, she knew damn well who he was. Just disbelief. _And there's that feeling again._

"Need some help?" He asked again as he took the coffee pot handle from her grasp, brushing her fingers. She let out a shaky breath, which could have been nerves, tension, or…_other. _ And after regaining her voice, some words tumbled out.

"I just, I, Sookie's not here, and… I wanted some coffee, cause I didn't get to finish mine at your place, and I just really want some, but the damn machine has this whole sexist machismo thing going on and wont operate for me and I just really…" she got too overwhelmed and couldn't finish the sentence. He understood completely, placed the coffee pot on the counter, took her hand, and led her outside.

As soon as they reached the porch, she started to get nervous. The gnawing only increased.

"Luke?"

He looked her square in the eyes and quelled her fears. "I just thought the kitchen in the middle of the lunch hour was not the best place for a meltdown."

"Who says I'm having a meltdown?" She retorted.

He gave her _the look, _which she never remembered sending chills down her spine before. "Please Loralei. When I become deaf and blind, I'll let you know. But I saw what happened back there at the diner."

"Oh God, am I that transparent?"

"You're not transparent, I just know."

That hit her harder than he intended. _It was true, _she realized. "God, Luke, I'm sorry. I don't want you to think that I'm this crazy nut bag that you have to chase down and calm down every time something little goes wrong."

"You know I could never think that. And I don't mind. And this wasn't just _something…_was it." The last part was more a statement than a question, he knew the answer.

But his sweet response softened her face and she cracked open just a little.

"Luke, I just, I put something into this one, you know. And Rory…she got her hopes up too, and then he just…went. Because that's what he does. He's Chris, I should have never expected anything less."

"He was really it for you, wasn't he?" _Way to be blunt Danes._

His question practically knocked the wind out of her. It was so blatant, so raw, and after her thoughts in the diner, she _so_ knew the answer.

"No."

"No?"

"No. Luke the more I thought about it, I know he's not it for me. I though he was at one point, but not now. I'm just such a wreck now because of Emily and her…crap."

Luke Danes then did something he never ever ever did. He went out on a limb. "Then what is it, who is it?"

And if there was any air left in her lungs, it was gone. Because standing there with Luke, blue eyes to blue eyes, the feeling growing ever greater in the pit of her stomach, she couldn't answer him. "I don't…know," she shakily answered, never once breaking eye contact.

And farther and farther out onto the limb, praying that it didn't break, after six years of build-up, Luke finally made his move. He removed his hand from hers, having forgotten that they were even linked. Moving his hand to the back of her head, he lowered his face until they were so close that they could feel each others heartbeat and their eyes were completely level and locked. She knew what was coming. And she wasn't about to stop it. After what seemed like hours to both of them, Luke moved in and did it. The limb he was out on didn't break, she kissed him back, and that was all that mattered to him just them. When they finally had to pull away, she kept her eyes locked on his and told him exactly what he wanted to hear:

"That's it."


	3. Nag Hammandi

A/n: Hey, less than a year, update time, not too shabby, huh? Thanks to all you beautiful people who gave me such lovely reviews. They make we wanna write more, so hey, it's a "win-win-win situation"! Enjoy the newest one-shot at getting my JJs together.

Chapter 3: Nag Hammandi's Where They Found the Gnostic Gospels

Loralei was strolling through the town looking for food. Anything, to satiate her and her daughter's appetites. The food at the fund-raiser thingy had been absolute crap. In fact, the whole fundraiser had been pretty much crap. The only good point had been her mother making her and Jason pretend that they were together. They had held hands, danced, made out in the coatroom, it was…fun. Come to think of it, this whole thing with Jason was pretty much…just fun. Somewhere deep inside her, Loralei's grown-up radar shot up at this. She wasn't exactly sure where this radar came from, maybe it was her innate Emily springing to life, but something felt wrong. She didn't _love_ Jason, she was just having fun. Rory was at the age to be having fun, not her, right? _It was about time she settled down_. Just the thought of that made her cringe. There wasn't even anyone she could think of that she could possibly see spending the rest of her life with. Jason certainly wasn't…marriage material. Chris had a family now, for God's sakes, and he was the last relationship she had had before falling into bed with her father's paranoid, boat-tipping business partner. _So where was this partner of hers, huh? Shouldn't he have found her by now?_

She stopped, pondering this thought for a while. A few minutes passed before she realized she was staring intently at the fire. As she snapped out of her reverie, she heard the tail end of a conversation nearby, with one very familiar voice. As she walked over towards the voice she couldn't help but chuckle at the conclusion to this discussion.

"_I was just trying to say that I assumed because my sister has a history with guys, you know, that, you know, you were like the others. But, well, you seem like a pretty good guy."_

"_Thanks. You're a dick." _

She tried not to laugh too hard to Luke's face as she approached him. "So, I just heard the tail end of that conversation and I'm assuming you haven't changed your name to Richard?"

He laughed at this remark, which relieved her tension (which somehow had built up in the last two seconds). It was a good thing he was in a good mood, he had had a rough time of it since Jess came back to town. _Making Luke feel useless and unappreciated_, she thought, _I oughta ring his punk ass little neck._ She almost wanted to cry when she had walked in on drunken Luke. It was so odd at first; Luke was so responsible, he didn't just get drunk when his team lost or he had a bad day. Something had to be really _really_ wrong for Luke to get drunk. She knew he had gotten hurt bad. _By a punk half his age, nonetheless_. And that really pissed her off. But she was glad that he was here tonight, and in a good mood. _He must be feeling better_, she thought. They laughed and talk for a bit, their usual banter with a side of tension, and then he pulled something sparkling out of his coat pocket.

Loralei gasped when she saw what he was holding. _Earrings…gorgeous ones…okay time for some words now, Gilmore_

"Pretty." _Great. One word. All you can come up with is one word. Luke got you jewelry for God's sake, and all you can say is 'pretty'? You sound like a stammering idiot! Which maybe you have the right to be, because Luke bought you jewelry! Why did he do this? Why and how and when and…oh my God, they're beautiful…._

Loralei pressed the pause button on the mental rant long enough to realize that Luke was speaking to her.

"Liz made them yesterday. She wanted you to have them."

Loralei's heart immediately fell and she was simultaneously saddened by his response and shocked at her reaction to it. "Oh, okay, great," she responded with a small voice. _Why am I so upset about this? It was weird that I thought he bought them for me, right? He wouldn't have had them for me for any other reason, right? _"Well be sure to tell her thanks for me."

Luke eyes got wide at this. _What's wrong with her? She looks almost…disappointed. What, one minute she's saying pretty and now she's just staring at her feet?_

"Loralei?" He questioned, wanting to know the reason for her sudden change in mood. "What's wrong?"

Loralei had been too busy consulting her inner Dr. Phil; trying to convince herself that she was NOT disappointed that Luke hadn't chosen these earring to give to her to hear that once again, she was being spoken to. She tore her eyes away form the jewelry and looked up into the eyes of the flannel clad delivery boy. "What?"

Luke restated his concern, adding a new level of self-doubt: "What's wrong, do you not like them?

Loralei gasped, not realizing her disappointment had been that visible. "Oh, God, no Luke they're beautiful! I just thought…" She stopped herself in a moment of self-preservation, trying to keep too much from coming out all at once, as was common with most of what she said in life.

But Luke was quicker than her self-preservation instincts. You can't know someone for eight years and not have some idea of when they say too much, or mean to say more than they do. "No, what is it? Because if you don't like them, I can just give them back to her, or give them to…"

Loralei stopped him before he took the beautiful things back, but not before catching on to what he was about to say. _You can't know someone for eight years and not have some idea of when they say too much, or mean to say more than they do. _"…Nicole." She finished the sentence for him and if it was possible, her heart dropped even lower. "Your…wife," she choked out the words.

_Why did this bother her so much? _It seemed they were both thinking the same thing. But Luke was the first one to vocalize his opinions.

"Yes, my wife." But her sudden change in mood and the thought of Nicole had only put him in a bad mood. "Why, what the hell is the matter with you? I give you a present and all you can do is get upset?"

"I'm not upset," she answered through somewhat clenched teeth. "And why didn't you give them to Nicole, anyway?"

And after his little talk with TJ that night, it didn't take much for Luke to snap. He snatched the earring out of her hands and started to walk towards the diner, ranting the whole way. "You know what, fine! If you don't want them, maybe I will give them to Nicole! Liz gave me the choice and maybe I made the wrong one! I just wanted you to have them, because…"

Loralei's eyes got wide. _He had a choice. _"Because why, Luke?"

Luke stopped in his tracks a few steps in front of the diner. Now it was his turn to stammer. "Because…because I uh…"

And continuing with the role-reversal theme of the evening, now it was Loralei's turn to rant.

"Because what Luke? Huh? What is it that makes you treat me like this, huh? To be completely sweet to me when you're taken so that it kills me just as much as it makes me happy because I know that I could never have you? You're _married, _Luke! That's a choice that you made, completely your decision, regardless of how much help you had from Jose Cuervo and Captain Morgan! So why then, what is it that makes you give me beautiful jewelry, when I know all it can mean is 'hey, you're a super friend, Loralei, can I pour your coffee sometime'? What is it, Luke?"

And he couldn't take it anymore. Seeing her standing before him like this, visibly displaying every emotion he had ever kept behind the counter of the diner, killed him, and yet somehow made him so incredibly happy. And he knew, somehow, that this was how it was supposed to be. Because finally now that he knew, this didn't have to go on anymore. He could stop the madness right now; the ball was in his court.

So slowly, he handed the earrings back to her, and as she turned her head up to look up into his eyes to see how this gesture could possibly remedy everything she had just shouted him, he took his jewelry-free hand and tilted her head up to kiss her with all the emotion she had just shown him…and then some. It was magical, due somewhat in part to the Firelight Festival going on behind them, but mostly in part to the fact that, as mind-blowing a kiss it was, something deeper was going on in their heads. They both realized something during that kiss, and for the first time in his life, Luke was the first to put it into words.

"That's it."

A/N: Hey, I know this ideas been done before, and with much flashier endings as well. I just want to show little get-togethers in some of our favorite JJ episodes. I hope you all enjoy reading them, even sans the declarations of love that other fics offer. Something in me just doesn't want them to say "I love you" in a fic before we see them say it for real on air. Ya know?


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